Sign in using your account

Illegal immigrant deaths on record pace in July

By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star

Jul 15, 2010

Illegal border crossers are dying at record rates this
month.

Since July 1, the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office has
handled the bodies of 38 illegal border crossers, said Dr. Bruce
Parks, chief medical examiner. That mid-month total puts July on
pace to match or break the all-time single month record of 68 in
July 2005.

“I never thought we would see that again,” Parks said. “It’s
scary. Maybe the rain will slow these down.”

Parks said his office has been picking up and examining between
one to four bodies daily since the beginning of the month. Field
agents were on their way to pickup four more bodies Thursday, he
said. Most of the people are being found recently deceased.

The deadly month puts 2010 even further ahead of the pace from
the past three years. From Jan. 1 - July 15, the office has handled
132 bodies of illegal border crossers, up from 93 at the same time
last year and 102 in 2008.

It’s been a deadly decade for illegal immigrants trying to cross
through Arizona. The bodies of more than 1,750 men, women and
children have been discovered since 2001 — about 175 a year.

The Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office has handled about
1,600 of them.

The fact that the deaths continue at such high numbers despite
widespread indications that fewer people are crossing the border
has led many experts to conclude that illegal border crossers face
a deadlier trek than ever across Arizona's desert.

Apprehensions in the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector have
decreased each of the past five years; remittances have declined to
Mexico and anecdotal reports show the economic recession has slowed
illegal immigration. Yet people are dying more than ever.

Border-county law enforcement, Mexican Consulate officials,
Tohono O'odham tribal officials and humanitarian groups say the
buildup of border fencing, technology and agents has caused illegal
border crossers to walk longer distances in more treacherous
terrain, increasing the likelihood that people will get hurt or
fatigued and left behind to die.

The Border Patrol disagrees that it’s pushing illegal immigrants
into more hazardous terrain and points to its rescue efforts as
evidence that its presence prevents deaths rather than causes
them.